A Starter Kit for Creatives

A common question we’re asked: “Where do I start?” We’ve put together a short guide, providing guidance for those looking to get started with data and technology:

Photo by Joshua Coleman

Manage How You Work

“Implement an accountability tool. Whether a working creative individual or team, all work processes can benefit from accountability tools, keeping your creative projects on track.”

She recommend using a project management system like Podio, Asana or Trello for a ready-made solution with pre-built workspaces and daily email reminders.

Alternately, Salesforce or HubSpot offer a more robust system with customer management capabilities, sales analysis and the ability to integrate with cloud-based storage systems such as Google, Dropbox, Evernote or Share file.

“Ultimately, the accountability tool you select should provide structure, flexibility and review of your creative process as you grow and scale.”

Manage What’s Released

“A creative’s greatest asset is their body of work, but is your work easily discoverable online?” the Monicat team challenged. If not, make some changes.

Create a “central digital asset,” to centralize all of your online work. Build a custom portfolio website, a Dribble design website or a creative writing blog and feature your creative projects, perspective and community contributions. This way you can funnel audience traffic to one common location that you control.

“Digital page titles and links should provide clear directives for audiences to identify and connect with your work. High digital engagement begins with strong digital structure.”

Manage What’s Measured

“Gain your bird’s eye view. You’ve put in the hours of dedication, discovery and planning to develop your creative project and now you’re ready to release it to the world, but how do you know who to cast it to?”

Wherever you organize yourself, Russell recommended making analytics a regular part of your routine. Understanding what generates the most success will propel new work to greater heights.

Use tools such as Buffer, Sprout Social, Google Analytics or Hootsuite to draw data from your websites and professional social media platforms onto a centralized dashboard. This “customized data hub” will shed light on your key audiences, your top performing platforms and the optimum time for release interactions. Digging into this info can help evaluate past and future creative project performance.

What are the data or technology stumps have you been facing? We love vent emails.